Anti-aircraft guns are usually a good anti-tank ** due to their own ballistics and kinetic energy, such as the Type 88 gun used in World War II, and the 85 mm main gun used by the Soviet T-34-85 is also a modification of an anti-aircraft gun. Of course, sometimes there are some special cases, such as the Soviet 21-k anti-aircraft gun, which is adapted from anti-tank guns, and is also an alternative among anti-aircraft guns.
In the early thirties, the Soviet Union acquired the German 37 mm anti-tank gun and used it to develop a 45 mm anti-tank gun called the M1932, which was widely used in infantry and some tanks, such as the BT high-speed tank.
In 1934, the Soviet Navy was armed with a 1932-k anti-aircraft gun improved by the M21, which was still widely used during the Second World War and was still equipped on many Soviet ** guns, until 1943, when the 70-K anti-aircraft machine gun completely replaced this artillery.
How does 21 k perform? The answer is no. This cannon is actually a simple ship-based naval gun, it uses a caliber of 46 times the caliber, can automatically discharge ammunition, and fires in a manual single row, similar to the German "37 hand puller" with a maximum rate of fire of 25-30 rounds.
The angle of inclination of the barrel can range from -10 degrees to 85 degrees, it can turn 360 degrees laterally, but the angles when firing will also vary due to the installation. The tilt can be done by hand and can be tilted up to about 8 degrees for seconds and 10 degrees for transverse.
Shells that do not detonate at a fixed time are all based on one-hit killing, coupled with the way they shoot, and their role in actual combat is not very large. As a new type of anti-tank gun, the 21-k has an extremely high firing pressure, its firing range is very wide, its muzzle velocity can reach 880 m s, it can fly up to 6000 m, and at an angle of 45 degrees, its maximum firing range can reach 9200 meters.
The total weight of the 21-k anti-aircraft gun plus the artillery was 507 thousand kg, and later the USSR developed a 40-k type tower adder weighing 2000 kg, and a twin tower weighing 2600 kg. A variety of 45 mm caliber anti-aircraft guns were heavily armed with Soviet **, such as submarines, speedboats, destroyers, etc.
In general, the 21-k anti-aircraft gun was not an effective anti-aircraft gun because its ammunition system was too old, and in the heat of battle, it largely depended on the judgment of the driver, and could not use the magazine for continuous firing and adjustment like other anti-aircraft guns.
For example, the OT-033 tracking bomb can store 52 g of explosives, which is enough to kill a large aircraft, while the O-240 bomb can hold 118 kg of explosives, but the muzzle velocity is much slower, which is more suitable for ground combat. In addition to this, it is the armor-piercing warhead of the BR-240, which is equally suitable for strikes against small ships.